73 pages • 2 hours read
Sue Lynn TanDaughter of the Moon Goddess
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2022A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Summary
Background
Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Character Analysis
Themes
Symbols & Motifs
Important Quotes
Essay Topics
Tools
BetaSymbols & Motifs
The Moon
Like in many cultures, the moon is a significant celestial body to Chinese people. The moon plays a large role in Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations, and it is customary to look at the moon on that night and think of family. Unsurprisingly, the moon features prominently in the novel, both as a physical place (Xingyin’s childhood home, where her family resides) and as a metaphor for family, home, and comfort. Xingyin often looks at the moon when she is homesick, upset, or emotionally torn, and many times thinks of her mother when she does so. When she returns home at the end of the novel, drained from the dragons’ ritual and scarred by the emperor’s wrath, the moon’s “powerful rejuvenating energy” helps heal her wounds (487). She also often joins her mother in contemplation (497), making the moon a balm for both the body and the mind.
Xingyin has a familial connection to both the sun and the moon. Her mother, Chang’e, is the Moon Goddess, and her father, Houyi, is a legendary archer associated with the suns he shot down. Xingyin, whose name means “silver star” (49), connects the two. Although the sun is also a star, most people think of the stars that are only seen at night, those which accompany the moon in the dark sky.
Lastly, the moon is a keeper of secrets. Xingyin’s and Liwei’s first kiss is at night with visible moonlight (131). Later, when Chang’e asks Xingyin about Liwei and Wenzhi, she appears to understand that there is more to Xingyin’s relationships with them than Xingyin lets on (481-82). However, she doesn’t push Xingyin for answers, allowing her daughter to keep her secrets, even those witnessed by the moon.
Musical Instruments: Flute and Qin
Xingyin’s instruments of choice, the flute and the qin, symbolize first and second place. Xingyin admits that though she is proficient with the qin, her best instrument is the flute. This comes into play when Xingyin competes with Lady Lianbao to be Liwei’s companion. Lianbao is very skilled in the qin—more so than Xingyin—so if Xingyin used the same instrument to compete, she would lose. Instead, she chooses the flute and wins, leaving Lady Lianbao (and her qin) in second place while Xingyin receives the grand prize.
This symbolism is cemented further with the love triangle between Liwei, Wenzhi, and Xingyin. Although Liwei doesn’t play an instrument himself, he loves Xingyin’s flute playing and requests that she play for him (77); Xingyin also gifts him a shell with a recording of her flute music for his birthday (116) and plays the song live at his birthday banquet (157-59). After she and Liwei break up, Xingyin doesn’t play the flute again for a long time due to her broken heart (218). Liwei is her first love, and despite their separation, he remains first in her heart in terms of romance.
Wenzhi, Xingyin’s second love interest, is associated with the qin. A skilled qin player himself, he performs for Xingyin in the Demon Realm (415-16), and Xingyin plays for him in turn. Her intentions here are not romantic—instead, she means to escape the Demon Realm and find Liwei to warn him of Wenzhi’s trap. Though Xingyin’s feelings about Wenzhi are complicated by the end of the story, he falls second to Liwei through his own actions—lies and manipulation, kidnapping, and mind trickery. He also chooses loyalty to his father over loyalty to Xingyin, making her second place in his heart as well.
Accessories
Daughter of the Moon Goddess characters have many elaborate costume changes throughout the novel, and certain accessories have symbolic meaning. Xingyin’s hairpins represent rejection, the Sky Drop Tassels represent true love, and the Celestial Empress’s Phoenix Talons symbolize Xingyin’s growing understanding of the empress’s character.
Noted as a common love token (136), Xingyin first receives a hairpin from Liwei on his birthday after his romantic overtures have been given and accepted. Xingyin initially loves it, but it draws the ire of the Celestial Empress (157), who has no intention of letting Liwei marry Xingyin. Xingyin returns the hairpin to Liwei when they break up after his betrothal announcement, signifying her rejection of his choice (165). Xingyin uses hairpins as weapons to attack Wenzhi while she’s captured (382), an immediate rejection of Wenzhi’s actions against her and the Celestial Emperor. Wenzhi gifts Xingyin a hairpin at the end of the novel, both as an apology for his betrayal and as a confession of his lingering love for her; she rejects this one immediately (495). Prince Yanxing of the Eastern Sea Kingdom is also described as wearing a hairpin (211), but he never gifts one to Xingyin, indicating that he is not a love interest and that Liwei’s and Wenzhi’s jealousy toward him is unfounded.
In contrast, Liwei and Xingyin’s Sky Drop Tassels are a more telling symbol of their romantic connection. Though Xingyin calls them a “gift of friendship” when Princess Fengmei asks about them (326), they are described on multiple occasions as a “matched pair” (114, 326). The Tassels are filled with Xingyin’s silver energy and Liwei’s gold, calling forth the moon and sun imagery that reflects Chang’e and Houyi. The Sky Drop Tassels also indicate whether the energy-giver is in mortal peril, and each is quick to rescue the other, indicating that their bond goes deeper than friendship. When Liwei breaks off his engagement with Princess Fengmei, she wishes him happiness with Xingyin, and Xingyin realizes that Fengmei understood the deeper meaning of the Tassels (492).
The Celestial Empress, meanwhile, is always described as wearing her Phoenix Talons. Xingyin’s perception of them in the story mirrors her perception of the empress. Initially, Xingyin thinks the talons are simply beautiful, much like the dazzle of the empress herself when she first visits the moon. However, as Xingyin spends more time in the Celestial Kingdom and observes the Empress’s toxic personality, she begins to view the talons as “no mere ornaments” but are instead “laced with a potent poison” (157). She sees evidence that “scars left by the Phoenix Talons can never be healed” when Lady Hualing tells her story, explaining how the empress attacked her upon learning of her relationship with the emperor (304-05). Much like the Empress herself, who seeks vengeance over mercy and pedigree over character, her distinctive accessories are sharp, ostentatious, and unforgiving.
